And the Booker goes to Shehan Karunatilaka for his book “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida.”

The book is described an “afterlife noir” which is set during Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war.  Karunatilaka was presented with the award and the $57-thousand US prize by Queen Consort Camilla last night at a gala in London.

He is the second Sri Lanka-born Booker Prize winner, after Canada’s Michael Ondaatje took the trophy in 1992 for “The English Patient.”

Other Canadian authors who’ve won the Booker include Margaret Atwood and Yann Martel